


Avenging the Galaxy

by JoytotheWorld, Menatiera, Opalsong



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Audio Format: M4B, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Background Music, Bickering, Bruce as Nebula, Bucky as DM, But nothing detailed, Clint as Peter, Community: pod_together, Everyone is a good bro, Gen, GotG as Avengers RPG, I tried to be funny, Natasha as Drax, Pietro is alive, Podfic, Podfic Length: 20-30 Minutes, Role-Playing Game, Sam as Groot, Steve as Rocket, Team as Family, Teasing, Thor as Mantis, Tony as Gamora, Vision as Ego, Wanda as Ayesha, because the others totally mess with him all the time, everyone is trolling everyone, except Bucky who wants to kill half of the characters, relationships will probably be hinted later, soundeffects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-03 20:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11540052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoytotheWorld/pseuds/JoytotheWorld, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opalsong/pseuds/Opalsong
Summary: „All right, everyone! Assemble!” Cap called them with a shit-eating grin. „Time to continue playing!”The Avengers already had a succesful table-top RPG campaign where they saved the world as the Guardians of the Galaxy. The second game seems to be as much fun as the first.Fanfic for the Pod_together 2017 challenge. More bits will probably be added later but it can be read as a one-shot.





	Avenging the Galaxy

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Paraka for hosting!

cover art by Opalsong

### Streaming Audio

### Download

[MP3](http://opalsong.parakaproductions.com/podfic/Avengers/Avenging%20the%20Galaxy.mp3) | 21:42 | 30.2 MB  
---|---|---  
[Podbook](http://opalsong.parakaproductions.com/podfic/Audiobooks/Avengers/Avenging%20the%20Galaxy.m4b) | 21:41 | 10.1 MB  
  
### Music

_Heroes' Valour_ by Midnight Syndicate  
_Mr. Blue Sky_ by Electric Light Orchestra

### Crosspost

cross posted at amplificathon, my journal, and AO3

**Avenging the galaxy**

„All right, everyone! Assemble!” Cap called them with a shit-eating grin. „Time to continue playing!”

It was Friday evening. Two weeks had passed since they last sat down to have their first table-top role-playing game session – the very first one to some of them. It was a mystery who had come up with the idea in the first place, but everyone had soon been on board.

The first campaign was… well, kind of a success. Everyone survived, even the furniture in the tower. Some might have lost some hair or most of their patience, and a few tears might have been shed for various reasons, but overall it was even cathartic for some (and okay for the others).

Within minutes, everyone shows up in the living room, even the notoriously late ones like Tony and Natasha.

Bucky, as the DM, sits at the head of the table, and even before they start, he looks like he prays for patience. He has some experience and idea what to expect from the party, and that’s… really not so easy to deal with. But this role did him good, not just according to his therapist, but it’s noticeable to the others as well. „Does anyone want to change their character?” Bucky sounds more hopeful than he would admit.

„Nah,” Steve’s the first to answer. „Rocket is good for me. And Sam would never leave my side, right?” The duo smile to each other.

„I didn’t survive the last round with one health point, only to abandon Groot. I’m baby Groot now. I’m adorable!” Sam agrees, and shows off a drawing that Steve had done of his character. Steve had done some art for each and every one of them since last time, just for practice and to have some visuals, as he’d said.

„You are all idiots and would die without me,” Tony sniffs as he arranges his papers. Probably he has the most detailed backstory, everything counted and optimized for an effective warrior. He’s kind of devastated that he couldn’t use much of Gamora’s bonuses during the first campaign, and swears to not let this happen again.

“But I’m still the main character,” Clint says happily, and grabs the drawing of Peter Quill. He ignores the collective groan that he gets as an answer. “And the most handsome of all,” he adds, smirking.

“That might be true for your character,” Natasha hits him on the head, “but not at all in real life.”

“Look who’s talking, Mr. I-don’t-understand-metaphors…”

“Shut up. Drax is nearly indestructible, while you are only a tiny little human.” Natasha sticks her tongue out at Clint, while taking a seat between him and Steve. “Can Pepper make it, or will we have to miss Yondu this time?” She looks at Tony for answer, who nods frantically.

“She might be a bit late, because some asshole kept her back at S.I., but she could be here any minute now.” There’s a place next to Tony reserved for Pepper when she comes. On the man’s other side, Bruce takes a seat with his usual shyness. “Brucie bear, you are sticking with my evil little sister, right?”

Bruce smiles a bit and looks at Bucky as he nods. They kind of bonded after the first session. Bruce’s play of Nebula had secretly made the ex-assassin tear up a bit last time, especially in the end when the cyborg girl had cut off her own hand. (‘It was a Star Wars reference!’ Bruce had told them loudly, but everyone knew that he had agreed to play only for the sake of Bucky’s recovery, and he totally did it solely for that purpose.)

***

In the middle of the conversation, Thor holds up his hand like a schoolchild. Last time, he had said he didn’t understand the point fully, so he’d chosen to observe the game before actually joining in. Which he did, and by the looks of it, he’d had the time of his life. Neither the growing annoyance of Bucky, nor the protesting huffs after dumb moves had toned down his genuine smile and honest enquiry. Bucky nods to him, and Thor looks back to him directly as he speaks. “I think I get it now. Mighty warrior James, mind if I join in the adventures tonight with my character?”

Bucky, as dark and broody as he is usually, smiles back at Thor, because it’s almost impossible to resist the urge when the god looks at someone with those bright puppy eyes of his. “Sure, why not. You can’t be worse than those idiots, now can you? Whatcha got?”

Thor spreads some papers on the table and starts explaining soulfully. “Her name is Mantis. She doesn’t know any living creature, except the one who raised her.”

“Her?” Tony interrupts with a shit-eating grin.

“Well, I see most of you have chosen a different gender than your own, so I assumed doing so matters to you?” The phrasing of the question makes it clear that Thor doesn’t really get the meaning behind it, but he wants to adapt to the local norms, as usual.

Bucky massages the bridge of his nose, but asks anyway. “What else?” He’s clearly afraid of the answer. But, as he’d said earlier, what could be more perplexing than a talking tree and a racoon with machine guns?

“She feels others’ emotions and is able to alter them!” Thor announces excitedly.

“But… Why?” Bucky is only able to moan this as he buries his face in his metal palm.

Thor, clearly baffled by the reaction, stares for a few seconds before actually answering slowly. His tone is sad, but his words are clear. “My mother was able to do this. I always assumed it to be useless, and often teased her for not choosing a more appealing ability, something with more potential in it. But by now, I see the true power of her choice. The way she was able to help Father have a rest and prepare himself for the burden of kinghood, or to brighten the mood of people when they were struggling - or even calm down her children when they had nightmares. If she was here, I would say to her that she possessed the greatest gift of all. But… since it’s impossible, even with every wonder of the Nine Realms, I would like to honor her this way.”

Everyone is struck speechless by the story, and for half a minute no one moves. They just watch the demigod, who always acts so cheerful around others, having his own moment of grief, without any shame because of the feeling itself.

Then Clint accidentally drops his coffee mug, and the noise breaks the spell. “Shit!” The archer jumps to his feet and tries to get rid of his pants, now soaked in hot coffee.

***

“Okay,” Bucky pretends not to see what’s happening in front of his eyes. “Anyone else?”

“I think,” the voice with the familiar thick accent chimes in, “you have a character for Vision.” The words are directed to Bucky, as Wanda shoves herself away from the doorframe where she’d been leaning.

“What? I don’t… I didn’t even know you wanna play with us.” Bucky looks to the android following Wanda closely. Vision shrugs a bit, and silently mouths _‘Me neither,’_ but Wanda continues. “If I’m not mistaken, you call him Ego.”

“But that’s…” Bucky bites on his lower lip before he spoils his own storyline, and chews it for a few moments. “Can you see his role, as well?” he asks after the pause.

“I assume.”

“And did you tell him all about it?”

A wordless nod comes with a smile that is a bit frightening, even for the Avengers. It’s not an innocent one at all.

“And are you okay with it? Still wanna play him?” Bucky looks at Vision this time.

“The players had a great deal of personal growth in their mental wellbeing after the first game, and most of you seemed to enjoy yourselves,” Vision rationalizes as always, and it makes Tony smile proudly. “Playing the role you expect from this being will be easier than finding out my own character.”

“So, you are lazy.” Sam smiles.

“Man, I never expected this from Vision of all people,” Clint laughs with him.

Bucky ignores both of them. “What about you, Wanda?”

“Pietro and I will be okay with the designated non-player characters again,” she shrugs. Pietro has no patience to sit through all of the party – better to call him when a side character appears, so he can join in for a few minutes and then leave from restlessness, as always – and Wanda hadn’t intended to have a character last time. “Better to try focusing on your plans with the NPC while everyone’s thoughts are loud with excitement around me,” she explains.

A few of the Avengers shift uncomfortably. Of course, they know about Wanda’s ability, but knowing something and hearing the effect from her mouth are two totally different things.

Before Bucky can say anything, however, Steve reaches out toward her. “Come, sit down,” he invites. Bucky just nods in agreement, and no one protests. Wanda looks on them, one by one, then a pale smile appears on her lips and she goes to obey the Captain. (Vision tactically places himself between the woman and the science genius duo - as always -, and everyone pretends they don’t see that, as always.)

Bucky nods and looks down to his papers. “Time to play, everyone.”

„Okay, the rules are the same”, he announces. „We call each other by the character’s name. My word rules, and if you don’t play nice, I will make your character suffer for it.” A few giggles are the only answer. If Bucky had lived up to his word, no one would have survived the first campaign. Basically, half of them had designed their character to mess with him. Steve and Sam especially, but not exclusively. “We decide by rolling dice, d20 if I don’t say otherwise. If you die, you can bring another character to play next time.”

“We won’t die,” Sam says with a bit too much confidence. Bucky stares at him like he especially awaits Baby Groot’s death and is going to celebrate it when happens.

“We’ll see,” he mutters to himself, then starts to describe the scene.

***

“ _Showtime, a-holes! It's gonna be here any minute,_ ” Clint (already in Peter’s role) announces as he throws the dice.

“What are you doing?” Natasha is the one to ask, as a decent roll of 12 comes up on the dice.

“I rolled.”

“But for what?”

“Uhm…” Clint has no answer for that.

“ _Which will be its loss._ ” Tony (already in character as Gamora) rolls his eyes instad of a dice. “I’m powering up my space-gun,” he says, instead of commenting on the other’s mistake.

Clint is not as much of a genius as he is. “ _I thought your thing was a sword._ ” He can’t mask the surprise in his voice.

Tony looks back with his best ‘lord, have mercy on me and give me patience for these idiots’ face. He usually reserves that for Steve, but there are a few exceptions. Like now. “ _We've been hired to stop an inter-dimensional beast from feeding on those batteries, and I'm gonna stop it with a sword?_ While I have all these cool weapons in my inventory?!”

“ _It’s just…_ ” Clint maybe only mutters to himself, while the others are clearly enjoying the show. “ _Swords were your thing, and guns were mine, but I guess we're both doing guns now. I just didn't know that._ ” Tony takes pity on him, and while Clint’s talking, he’s looking through the other’s character sheets.

“ _Drax, why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?_ ”

Natasha straightens her spine. “I’m wearing it.”

Bucky grabs the paper as well, and he slowly smiles. “No, you clearly forgot to mention it here.” Everyone pretends they’re not hearing Nat’s Russian swearing.

Well, everyone except Sam. “There’s no Russian in space, Drax,” he calls her out. “So what’s your excuse?”

“I can’t simply add it now, can I?”

“NO!” at least five people shout at the same time. Well, maybe they still didn’t forgive the way Natasha almost killed them last time, when Drax decided that calling Ronan to Knowhere was a brilliant idea. Even Bucky had to stop to take deep breaths for a while after that, and he didn’t even have a character to be afraid for. Only the sheer luck of dicerolls saved the campaign from a disrespectful end right then and there.

Natasha pushes her lips together tightly, then almost whispers out. “ _It hurts._ ”

“ _Hurts?_ ” Tony repeats flatly.

“ _I have sensitive nipples,_ ”, Natasha deadpans.

Steve bursts out laughing, and he seemingly can’t help himself for a good five seconds. Then he practically howls in that special tone he uses for Rocket’s speech. It mixes some elements of his old Brooklyn accent with parts of some douchebags’ speech patterns from his previous opponents, and a big bit of simply making his voice thicker and louder than usual. “ _My nipples hurt! Oh goodness me!_ ”

Natasha makes a face. “ _What about him? What's he doing?_ ” Drax asks, pointing to Rocket. Everyone looks at Steve expectantly, and he’s ready with his answer.

“ _I'm finishing this, so we can listen to tunes while we work,_ ” Steve says, and shows them the iPod he had recently gotten from Tony as a victory gift after a well-made mission.

“You are shitting me,” Bucky grumbles.

“If there’s no Russian in space, then there’s no Apple either!” Nat sides with Bucky this time.

“Then I have an all handmade stereo player with enormous speakers that I’m putting together right now. Okay?”

The ex-assassin duo look at each other, then shrug in union. “Whatever,” Bucky says, with the tone he learned from Pepper, which shows he has the patience of the saints and he knows it.

***

They survive the fight. Barely. Well, at least Bucky says that. Sam was the lucky bastard – _again_ \- who rolled the highest numbers during the scene, and missed each and every strike of the monster (as well as the impact of the teammates as they were crashed to the ground by the beast). Rocket even managed to save him from swallowing a bug that would turn out to be poisonous anyway.

Bucky seemed extremely disappointed at that point, while Sam couldn’t wipe the smug smile from his face.

Drax pulled the dumbest move again and Natasha laughed her ass off on the pained expression of the others. “I’m indestructible, you morons”, was all she said. (And really, she only lost a few health points, which didn’t really made a difference for Drax’s enormous tenacity.) 

The others are hardly unscratched, but at the end they all high-five each other for the victory anyway. Steve slides a little paper to Bucky, and Bucky’s mouth twitch to an evil grin while reading it, but he nods anyway. Natasha’s the only who notices the exchange.

“Fuck, Steve, what did you do?” she hisses silently.

“Nothing”, Bucky answers, and the two supersoldiers innocently smile in union. “He just made everything even more interesting than I had planned. This is gonna be fun.” 

Bucky gathers his thoughts for a moment. “You enter the sovereign palace. Golden figures as motionless as statues watch you while you go ahead, and stop in front of a throne. A beautiful, seemingly perfect sovereign lady, High Priestess Ayesha is sitting on it and watch you with a certain hunger in her eyes.” He looks to Wanda, and nods to her. “Your turn, doll.”

Instead of strangling him with red energy beams for the invocation, the twin of the same evil smile appears on Wanda’s face.

“You don’t know it yet!” Bucky warns her immediately.

“Sure,” she shrugs. “But I will figure it out soon anyway.” Then she turns to the ones playing the teammates. “ _We thank you Guardians for putting your lives on the line…_ ”


End file.
